How To.....Run Streak

After a very long time of no blogging, I decided it was high time I took to the keyboard. What better to do so than on day 50 (yes 5-0!) of run streak! I'm still not entirely sure how I made it here. For those of you who don't know, this means 50 days of doing a run every.single.day! Time for a bit of reflection...

In The Beginning

It all sort of began by accident, starting with a Friday night run as a family. There was no conscious decision after that to run every day, it just sort of happened and by Day 10 I had decided I didn't want to give up. It was never easy to get out of the door, running has always been a great way for me to  de-stress but actually putting my trainers on and getting out of the door has always been the hardest part! Blackmail, bribe and sometimes even guilt-tripping; Lee always managed to get me out, even when I was dragging my feet knowing how much I'd enjoy it (eventually!).

Do I, Don't I

As with anything, to make it a habit, you have to do it again, again and again. There is a common myth that you must repeat an action 21 times for it to become a habit as observed by Maxwell Maltz in the 1950s. According to more recent studies this is actually more around 2 months. Many a time I have lingered in the doorway deciding whether I should push myself out and just do it. Mental power has played a huge part in succeeding in 50 days of running (and counting).

Music

I have always been devoted to my headphones. From someone who began from never running at all, music was a great way to help me switch off and still does allow me to zone out. As many pros as there are to listening to music, there are also cons. It can take your mind off your breathing leaving you short of breath and many races now prohibit the use of headphones so training with and without music is a great way to learn to adapt.

"In Training"

When people heard that I was running every day, I was asked what I was training for. As I hadn't made the conscious decision to start a run streak, there was never any goals set out- apart from those I'd set myself at the beginning of the year. Having already achieved my longest distance (London Marathon) and a sub 2 hour half marathon, my next biggest goal was breaking 50 minutes for a 10k, After 16 days of running, Ellesmere 10k made perfect sense.

Goals and Races

After eventually getting a place for the race (thanks to a place transfer), I was feeling the pressure to compete in a race in my hometown. I stuck to my tactics that Lee and I thought would work; all out for 3 miles, 2 miles a bit slower then use whatever I had left at the end to try and get sub 50. I managed to hit my target with over 20 seconds to spare!

Since beginning my run streak, I've managed a achieve a 10k time of 48:51, 5k at 23:12 and today a mile time of 6:28! After considering finishing after 50 days, I'm not quite ready to give up my run streak just yet. Onwards and upwards!